NO GREATER LOVE: THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS

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On Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet, what is it that we celebrate on Easter, specifically, but also on every Sunday of the year? To understand this, we must first go back to the Scriptures of Israel (the Old Testament).

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The book of 1 Kings tells of a time when the only son of a widow had died. The prophet Elijah brought the child up to his own bedroom and laid him on his own bed. He then stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to God, “O Lord my God, let this child’s soul come into him again.” The child revived and Elijah brought the child down to his mother. The mother exclaimed “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” (1 Kings 17:17-24)

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In the book of 2 Kings, the son of another woman had died. She rushed to the prophet Elisha, who was on Mount Carmel, around 20 miles away. Elisha was the successor of Elijah. Elisha sent his servant to hurry and lay Elisha’s staff on the face of the boy. However, the boy did not return to life. Then Elisha arrived and laid on the child placing his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on the child’s eyes, and his hands on the child’s hands. The flesh of the child became warm. Then he got up, walked around, and then stretched out on the child again. The child then sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. The child had come back to life. (2 Kings 4:18-37)

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In the New Testament, a synagogue ruler asks Jesus to lay his hands on his twelve-year old daughter who was near death. (Mk 5:22-24) He probably thought Jesus was a prophet like Elijah or Elisha who could do that. Jesus went to the girl, who had died, but He did not lay on her like Elijah and Elisha. He just took her hand and said to her, “Little girl, I say to you arise.” His touch and his speaking to her was enough to bring her back to life. (Mk 5:40-43, Mt 9:23-26, Lk 8:53-56)

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Previously, Jesus had gone to a city in Galilee called Nain where a man who was the only son of a widow had died and was being carried out to be buried. Jesus told the widow, “Do not weep.” He then touched the bier and then said, “Young man, I say to you arise.” Then the young man sat up and began to speak. People who saw this said, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” In this case, He did not even touch the young man, but only touched the bier and commanded him to arise. (Lk 7:11-17)

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The Lord’s most amazing miracle of raising the dead was the raising of Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary of Bethany. All three were friends of Jesus. When Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, He did not go immediately to cure him but stayed where He was for two more days before leaving for Bethany. By the time he arrived, Lazarus was dead. The tomb of Lazarus was a cave with a stone over it. When He came to Bethany, He said, “Where have you laid him?” (Jn 11:34). When He came to the tomb He wept, but then said, “Take away the stone.” (Jn 11:38) Lazarus’s sister, Martha, objected. “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” (Jn 11:39) However, Jesus replied to her objection, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (Jn 11:40) After they took away the stone, Jesus prayed, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that you have sent me.” (Jn 11:42) Then He cried out loudly, “Lazarus, come out.” (Jn 11:43) Lazarus then came out of the tomb with his face wrapped with a cloth and his hands and feet bound with bandages. Finally, Jesus said, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (Jn 11:44) This miracle was more amazing than the Lord’s previous raisings of the dead or the raisings of Elijah and Elisha since Lazarus had been dead four days, and thus there naturally would be much decomposition of the body and a strong odor. Jesus knew that His Father had preserved Lazarus from decomposition so that he could come out of the tomb and return to normal life.

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While the raising of Lazarus and the other raisings in the Old and New Testaments are truly amazing, the Resurrection of the Lord is of a completely different character. When Jesus came to Bethany, He met Martha, the sister of Lazarus. Martha said to Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” (Jn 11:21-22) Jesus tells her, “Your brother will rise again.” (Jn 11:23) Martha replies, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” (Jn 11:24) Jesus replies to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” (Jn 11:25-26) Pope Benedict, in Jesus of Nazareth, explains how the Resurrection of Jesus is different from the raising of Lazarus and the other raisings. On this basis we can understand the unique character of this New Testament testimony. Jesus has not returned to a normal human life in this world like Lazarus and the others whom Jesus raised from the dead. He has entered upon a different life, a new life-he has entered the vast breadth of God himself, and it is from there that he reveals himself to his followers.

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For the disciples, too, this was something utterly unexpected, to which they were only slowly able to adjust. Jewish faith did indeed know of a resurrection of the dead at the end of time. New life was linked to the inbreaking of a new world and thus made complete sense. If there is a new world, then there is also a new mode of life there. But a resurrection into definitive otherness in the midst of the continuing old world was not foreseen and therefore at first made no sense. So the promise of resurrection remained initially unintelligible to the disciples.

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The process of coming to Resurrection faith is analogous to what we saw in the case of the Cross. Nobody had thought of a crucified Messiah. Now the "fact" was there, and it was necessary, on the basis of that fact, to take a fresh look at Scripture. We saw in the previous chapter how Scripture yielded new insights in the light of the unexpected turn of events and how the "fact" then began to make sense. Admittedly, the new reading of Scripture could begin only after the Resurrection, because it was only through the Resurrection that Jesus was accredited as the one sent by God. Now people had to search Scripture for both Cross and Resurrection, so as to understand them in a new way and thereby come to believe in Jesus as the Son of God.

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This also presupposes that for the disciples the Resurrection was just as real as the Cross. It presupposes that they were simply overwhelmed by the reality, that, after their initial hesitation and astonishment, they could no longer ignore that reality. It is truly he. He is alive; he has spoken to us; he has allowed us to touch him, even if he no longer belongs to the realm of the tangible in the normal way.

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The paradox was indescribable. He was quite different, no mere resuscitated corpse, but one living anew and forever in the power of God. And yet at the same time, while no longer belonging to our world, he was truly present there, he himself. It was an utterly unique experience, which burst open the normal boundaries of experience and yet for the disciples was quite beyond doubt. This explains the unique character of the Resurrection accounts: they speak of something paradoxical, of something that surpasses all experience and yet is utterly real and present.

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The Resurrection of the Lord is certainly something unique in human history. However, this event, from two-thousand years ago, is very relevant for us now. Right before His Crucifixion, Jesus was questioned about the resurrection of the dead by the Sadducees, who were priestly aristocrats who did not be believe in the resurrection of the dead. They proposed a case of a woman who was married to seven men in succession and then asked Him whose wife she would be at the resurrection since she was married to all seven. Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” (Mt 22:29-32, Mk 12;24-27, Lk 20:34-38) St. Paul reiterated the Lord’s teaching. “For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are all men most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Cor 15:16-20) This is what we celebrate every Sunday.—Jim Nugent, CfP

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